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Archive for the ‘Ethical Travel’ Category

From 1st October 2013, Travelandinsure can now direct customers to Allianz Global Assistance for their travel insurance needs. As the world leader in Travel Insurance, Assistance and Personal Services, Allianz Global Assistance, with a workforce of more than 10900 employees, speaking 40 different languages and operating in 28 countries across 5 continents, provide an unequalled 24/7, 365 days a year service.

For our customers aged of 65 and over, and those who wish to travel with cover for medical conditions, we direct you to specialist insurer and market leader, PJ Hayman & Company Limited, who, through their various great value policies, in most cases, can offer cover for people travelling in this category.

And for those wanting the best cover for their gap year, extended stay and adventure holidays, then we recommend specialist provider Mind the Gap Year.

This triple approach insurance package is designed to give you total peace of mind that you have the right cover whenever you go on holiday or extended trip away.

This article is brought to you by Travelandinsure.com, specialist ethical travel insurance provider.

The surprise report this week is that the vast majority of British people do not care enough about the environment to make it their top priority when booking a holiday. Higher up the list comes cost. According to the independent research organisation, YouGov, just one in 100 people said their carbon footprint was the most important factor when buying a trip and for 13% of travellers, the environmental impact of a holiday was the least important consideration. Well, is it really that surprising? Whilst most of us are well intentioned, not many would put these considerations at the top of their list. Price is a much more dominant factor and, although many people do not mind paying a little bit more for a good cause, they do ask questions or vote with their feet, that is, walk away, if what they are paying for does not represent good value for money. Nowhere is this more evident than shopping on the internet, and this includes, more and more, the booking of flights and holidays, where the main driver is to get the best deal, first and foremost. The hidden benefits of carbon offsetting, fair trade, organic, helping the third world etc, will often be overlooked if the price is not, at least in the right ball park. If the price is right, then the feel good factor of buying what you are looking for and protecting the environment or helping people in need will certainly kick in and why not as, after all, we all like to do our bit. That’s why we at travelandinsure.com try to provide what our customers want, a competitively priced travel insurance policy that also makes a difference.

Buying ethical travel insurance adds a different dimension. As we like to put it, you can be in two places at the same time. In the knowledge that you are covered whilst on your trip, we can also help in other parts of the globe. Take Uganda, for example. Travel and Insure have recently committed funds from the sale of its travel insurance policies to support the rolling out of water filtration units there as part of a larger charity led programme to extend the provision of these units into other countries in Africa, the Indian Sub Continent and South America. Just £30 buys a unit which will filter contaminated water into clean, germ free drinking water. In a 24 hour period, one unit can filter up to 60 litres which is more than enough water for an average family. One recent independent study of the ceramic filters in Zimbabwe and rural South Africa showed reduction in dysentery and diarrhoea of more than 80%, concluding that these filters are “an effective point-of-use intervention for reducing E-Coli and diarrhoea in African households.” Added to the tremendous health benefits that come from drinking clean water, the social benefits can also be profound, leading to children spending more time in school and adults spending more time at work. Absenteeism, due to sickness in the African school in which clean water kits were installed, immediately dropped from more than 45% to less than 5%. Not a bad result from buying an ethical travel insurance policy. This article is brought to you by travelandinsure.com – specialist in ethical travel insurance. You can read more about the aid programmes supported by Travel and Insure by logging onto our dedicated aid projects page.

There has been a recent boom in ‘Ethical’ products following on from the success of ‘Fair Trade’ and ‘Organic’ but is this all marketing hype designed to boost a company’s profits? There is no doubt that the use of any of these labels opens up a totally justified debate on whether they are sufficiently defined to give the general public the assurances they need. The selling of ethical insurance and financial products falls into this category. A simple claim that a percentage of profits are channelled into good causes is all well and good but the discerning customer should look beyond these headline grabbing claims and ask serious questions.

Take Travel Insurance – there are literally hundreds of companies, many well known, that jump onto the bandwagon simply to try and grab a share of this growing market. This is tantamount to using strong arm tactics to drown out the voices of those genuine companies and charities that are offering ethical travel insurance with a difference. Only by looking at the whole picture can you appreciate what makes these new up and coming ethically driven companies a much more attractive option for those who do care about where they put their money.

Whether it is directed at helping those in need, say in the developing world, or aimed at ecological issues, such as climate change, how companies in the financial sector face up to the growing demand for Corporate Social Responsibility will be the benchmark requirement on which they will be judged in the future. In financial services broadly, and travel insurance in particular, travelandinsure.com with its ethically viable and socially sustainable product, is among a core of companies who have realised that this is central to how their business operates, and are truly making a difference.

Summer is over and sights are set for the coming winter ski season. Let’s hope for better snow in Europe than we had last year. To be fair, after a very poor start, snow fell later in the season and most resorts fared better than had been feared but even so 2006 will go down as a poor season in Europe though much better in the USA and Canada. And if the forecasts are correct, the ‘El Nino’ effect will bring even better conditions across the Atlantic for 2007/8. But what about Europe which still attracts the majority of British skiers? There have been worse seasons in Europe than last year – the end of the 1980’s were notably bad but resorts across Europe are rightly worried that ‘climate change’ is a serious enough threat for them to look at measures to improve their ‘green credentials.’ Resorts at lower altitudes are right to be worried as a 2 degree C rise in temperature over the next century is enough to remove almost a third of ski stations across Europe. The Ski Club of Great Britain has launched its Green Respect the Mountain campaign to raise awareness on what resorts need to do to protect the environment but also gives the general public information on which resorts are better than others. If this gives resorts the added incentive to improve their practices and become more eco-friendly then so much the better. Solar and biomass powered lifts are a new innovation and watch out for more car free areas in resorts. Better recycling, less reliance on plastic, less use of chemicals in snow making and more widespread use of alternative energy supplies are further examples at the seriousness that some resorts have taken on this issue. There is widespread agreement and greater awareness that a ‘do nothing’ policy is just not an option these days.

If this also improves the snow conditions, then so much the better! For those contemplating a week or two on the slopes this winter then it is advisable that they buy a travel insurance policy that covers them for poor snow conditions. Most travel insurance policies offer cover to compensate for lack of snow (or too much) with the offer extending to bussing to other higher resorts if their resort closes. And whilst on the subject of travel insurance, do make sure that if you find there is little snow and you therefore want to try out the bungee jumping on offer, just check the small print allows you to do so!

There has been a recent boom in ‘Ethical’ products following on from the success of ‘Fair Trade’ and ‘Organic’ but is this all marketing hype designed to boost a company’s profits? There is no doubt that the use of any of these labels opens up a totally justified debate on whether they are sufficiently defined to give the general public the assurances they need. Take ‘Fair Trade’ which has now established itself as a recognised standard but what transparency does the consumer have on whether the price they pay have any bearing on the fairness claims that are made and is the premium that they are prepared to pay for such products, on prices set by the end seller, have more to do with what the market will bear than on making any real difference to the third world producer?

The selling of ethical travel insurance and financial products falls into the same category. A simple claim that a percentage of profits are channelled into good causes is all well and good but the discerning customer should look beyond these headline grabbing claims and ask serious questions. Take Travel Insurance – there are literally hundreds of companies, many well known, that jump onto the bandwagon simply to try and grab a share of this growing market. This is tantamount to using strong arm tactics to drown out the voices of those genuine companies and charities that are offering ethical travel insurance with a difference. Only by looking at the whole picture can you appreciate what makes these new up and coming ethically driven companies a much more attractive option for those who do care about where they put their money. Whether it is directed at helping those in need, say in the developing world or aimed at ecological issues, such as climate change, how companies in the financial sector face up to the growing demand for Corporate Social Responsibility will be the benchmark requirement on which they will be judged in the future.

In financial services broadly, and travel insurance in particular, travelandinsure.com with its ethically viable and socially sustainable product, is among a core of companies who have realised that this is central to how their business operates, and are truly making a difference.

Funding of important projects has continued apace in the first half of 2007 through the income generated from the sale of Trade Aid UK sugar. We are delighted by the volume of sales in Tesco stores throughout the UK which has permitted us to support charities with their important work in the developing world. This has been given a boost by the launch of an ethical Travel Insurance product, travelandinsure.com. This company has teamed up with Trade Aid UK to support aid projects through the sale of its travel insurance policies.

PRIMARY HEALTH CARE TEAMS – SOUTH AFRICA

Funding has been directed through the Charity, Links International (www.linksinternational.org.uk) towards Primary Health Care teams in South Africa. Training has been provided to local staff who travel to remote villages and locations to instruct on simple health care issues with tremendous success. These teams have proven to be a very effective instrument in improving infant mortality rates, and overcome the misinformation and obstructive thinking on such crucial areas as Aids, childbirth, nutrition and basic health care. Regional government has been keen to work with Links International and, at the personal invitation of Nelson Mandela, they were able to send a team to his own village to train 250 delegates. This is vital on going work and will continue to receive funding from Trade Aid.

EDUCATION PROGRAMME – PERU

Through Project Peru (www.projectperu.org.uk), an aid charity based in Guildford, we have been able to fund a teacher for six months to work in their Refuge in Zapallal near Lima. This is a home established to provide food, shelter and support for children and families in need. The charity provides a base in which shelter and security is given to displaced and marginalised people, in particular, woman, young children and the elderly to improve their access to free education, healthcare and nutrition.

CHILDRENS REFUGE – COLOMBIA

Through the charity, IMC, (www.imc-uk.org.uk), we continue to contribute to the on going costs of running a children’s home in Fusa near Bogota, providing a safe environment for children who would otherwise be left to the dangers of street life. Without a home or any hope of regular food, children can very easily fall prey to drugs and child prostitution. The home provides a secure haven, where good food and education are provided so that the children can grow up with life skills to take with them into adulthood.

As an additional help to similar families living in the same village, IMC provides a feeding programme designed to cater for up to 100 children to give them one hot meal each day. It is planned to extend the existing successful programme in Fusa to other areas.

WATER FILTRATION – UGANDA

Through the charity Links International (www.linksinternational.org.uk) we have provided essential funding to purchase water filtration units to help bring clean fresh water to remote villages in Uganda.

The units work by a simple filtration system which will take any water, no matter how polluted, and by a gradual overnight process will filter a bucket of filthy water into water totally fit for human consumption. The filters work on a small scale so that each family in a village can have their own supply. This is an exciting new project with huge potential worldwide. Access to a safe clean water supply is denied to well over 1 billion people worldwide so we are carefully monitoring the success of these units in Uganda with a view to distribute them to other countries with peoples in need.

GIRLS SCHOOL – GHANA

We were approached by Links International in March 2007 to assist in an urgent project to provide clean running water to the Pentecost Senior Secondary School in Accra, Ghana. This is a school for 400 girls and we were able to provide this from our emergency contingency funds and we are glad to report that the installation has been successfully completed.

MICRO ENTERPRISE – PHILIPPINES

Following on from the Spring 2007 report, we are pleased that micro-enterprise schemes have started in the Philippines in one of the worlds most deprived areas, the rubbish mountain known as “Smokey Mountain”. This is an area outside Manila where literally thousands of children and adults scrape an existence from scavenging in this vast rubbish tip. They do the only work there is, waste picking on this dump and they work long hours in the fly ridden wet rubbish to earn one peso a day. Sadly, one peso is far short of being able to provide even the most basic essentials for a family and a common sight on ‘Smokey Mountain’ are people sorting through cartons of leftover fast food so that they can feed their families. Micro enterprise is a way a getting people to start up their own very small business, earning enough to feed their families and eventually to provide a better life for them.

Links International are actively engaged in the long term process of helping families in the Philippines lift themselves out of the poverty by providing seed corn capital to start their own businesses. In January 07 Links International sent out two representatives to train local staff in how to setup and run a micro enterprise project. On the 16th July, the first small business was launched with a successful applicant setting up a tailoring service making school uniforms. There is potential for micro enterprise to mushroom here, freeing hundreds of families from the clutches of poverty by providing the ‘seed corn’ to assist their passage towards self sufficiency. We hope to be able to regularly report throughout 07 & 08 on this work in progress.